I have a windows 2003 server that is 1 of 3 Active Directory Controllers in my network. We had a power failure and for some reason the APC did not gracefully shut this one server down so it crashed. Now when I boot up it tells me the AD database is corrupt. I was able to boot into Active Directory Restore Mode (ADRM) and run the ntdsutil integrity check as well as the sem commands. All failed and said Database is corrupt.

According to Microsoft's KB332199 article under the heading

If the domain controller cannot start in normal mode

I have to trick the DC into thinking it is a Member server and then promote, demote, and then promote again. This is my question: I was thinking that I could do a backup of the AD from a working server and then just do a restore to the server that is corrupt. Would this work and it is a safe way to handle this? Thanks

Since 2003 doesn't use the PDC/BDC model that NT/2000 used, I would think that you could just remove this server from the network repair Windows and DCPROMO the box. I would think then that the other 2 DC servers would replicate the DC settings/database back to the 3rd DC.

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Since 2003 doesn't use the PDC/BDC model that NT/2000 used, I would think that you could just remove this server from the network repair Windows and DCPROMO the box. I would think then that the other 2 DC servers would replicate the DC settings/database back to the 3rd DC.